Tag archives: Laura Capps
At a SB County Board of Supervisors hearing this past Tuesday, the board was briefed on second-quarter revenues for Fiscal Year 2022-23 related to cannabis tax revenue, which continues to trend lower than budgeted with a projected $10.5M negative variance. With an adopted budget of $16.3M, cannabis cultivation and retail storefront tax is currently projecting […]
Last week, the County of Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to honor International Holocaust Memorial Day. This resolution honors the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Jana Zimmer, a second-generation Holocaust survivor, community leader, and author of Chocolates from Tangier, was present to accept the resolution. She […]
Continued education and understanding of cultural groups are needed across our community. Last month, anti-Semitic flyers were dispersed across the Mesa on the first day of Hanukkah. This was a coordinated effort that occurred in the Second District that Laura Capps represents and is compounded by the horrific displays of anti-Semitism across the country. Like […]
There were many big winners in Tuesday’s election, most importantly: democracy and grace. It made my heart sing to watch defeated candidates, red and blue, gracefully acknowledge that things had not gone their way, this time. Who knew that we still had the human capacityfor humility? Beyond that biggest of wins… a few local highlights: […]
It would be nearly impossible to list the many unique features of Santa Barbara County that differentiate us from other places across the country. In contrast to all the incredible positive attributes, I recently learned of one startling distinction that may surprise you: our county is one of the fastest-warming places in the nation. According […]
As a world and as a county, we face monumental challenges: climate, poverty, education, income inequality, systemic racism and sexism, houselessness, mental health, inflation, access to healthcare, etc… It’s a too-long list of issues that are intersectional and deep. And the only way for our leaders to even begin to unpack such a multiverse of […]
Public trust in government is at a 50-year low. According to an ambitious Harvard Business School study, the problem in our contentious duopoly is the lack of competition and resulting lack of accountability. Santa Barbara is the poster child for what this study raged against — a system that no longer focuses on the public […]
The last time I sat face-to-face with Congressman Salud Carbajal was in September of 2020, when we were all optimistic that the pandemic’s end was in sight. That was three years into his stint in Congress. And as honored as he was to be representing this district in the People’s House, he nonetheless seemed burdened […]
Tea was served in copious amounts as CommUnify invited dozens to an outdoor event at the gorgeous Santa Barbara Club on December 2. Good thing, because one simple statement was quite sobering. Santa Barbara County is essentially tied for first in California for highest poverty rate. With the sale of countless multi-million-dollar homes in the […]
The Santa Barbara Unified School District board will hold a special meeting on September 23 to vote on a proposed resolution that will make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for staff, while the Montecito Journal has learned that two school board members are gearing up to also propose requiring masks at events larger than 250 people, regardless […]
Meanwhile, just down the road in District 6, the race between incumbent Meagan Harmon and well-known challenger Nina Johnson took an unexpected twist due to a local podcast featuring Ed St. George, the owner of St. George & Associates, who has historically been outspoken when it comes to politics and small business topics in Santa […]
With the school year less than two weeks from starting, a pair of Santa Barbara Unified School District board members are calling for all district staff and teachers to be vaccinated or be tested for COVID at least once per week. The proposal from Board President Kate Ford and Board Member Laura Capps will be […]
The Santa Barbara community is mourning the loss of Hal Conklin, the city’s former mayor and a beloved community activist for decades up and down the South Coast.
On Tuesday, October 20, a few dozen teenagers held a protest outside the Santa Barbara Unified School District’s headquarters on Santa Barbara Street. Carrying signs bearing messages such as “We Want to Go Back to School” and “Give Us a Choice,” the group had a clear message for local school officials: After more than a […]
On May 26, the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Hilda Maldonado as Superintendent in charge of the education of the county’s more than 14,000 elementary, junior and high school students. Maldonado’s prior job: Associate Superintendent of Leadership and Partnerships for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the […]
In a video clip released July 27, former First District Supervisorial candidate Laura Capps officially announced her re-election campaign for the Santa Barbara Board of Education. In her case, “re-election” is somewhat of a misnomer, as Capps is the first to point out. “We got two new Board members in 2018, but the three of […]
Purely Political Mr. James Buckley is a True Believer. When Donald Trump descended the escalator and announced his candidacy for president of USA, he declared that he is racist, misogynist, and antiimmigrant. For good measure he declared soon after, that he can kill somebody on Fifth Avenue, and it would not change any vote from […]
On June 30, Santa Barbara’s Grand Jury released an historic, scathing report detailing alleged official malfeasance by the Board of Supervisors as it sought to regulate cannabis over the past three years, particularly in Carpinteria but also in North County wine country. By law, the report mentioned no names and took no stand on the […]
Right Side of History As I read the LA Times coverage of the independent SB Grand Jury’s scathing report on the unethical way our cannabis policy came to be, I had one silver lining thought: “Thank goodness the Montecito Journal had the wisdom – and guts – to be on the right side of history […]
Not since the Civil Rights Movement more than 60 years ago, has the country experienced such a revolution of attitudes about race and justice in America. The killing of George Floyd and several other recent deaths of unarmed Black people at the hands of law enforcement has sparked massive outrage across a nation, where millions […]
